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History
Dates are given as commonly calculated, but most are approximations and serve more to indicate distance from each other than time since the War of the Gods Before time - The world is formed by the Gods. Its basic geography is agreed upon, and each deity places its people upon the earth - elves, dwarves and dragons form the First Races. 0 - after an eon of peace, the War of the Gods, also called the Dawn War, takes place as the Younger Gods join the pantheon. In an attempt to acquire worshippers, the Younger Gods create races for themselves and place them upon the earth. During the War, many Gods are killed or driven into exile. The veils between the planes are irreparably torn, and divine magic is able to reach the Material Plane from the abodes of the Gods. Mortals are drawn into the War, and many saints are created. Legends of this time will reverberate throughout history. When the War ends, the pantheon is much as it now is. Recorded history prior to the end of the War is primarily legend and myth, and most historians start dating from the exile of Kal-ithir, the dark god of punishment and vengence, which marked the end of the War. Pelor, god of the sun and of healing, declared that the next day was "the first day of a new world", and most major religions use this as the start of their calendars. 0-2000 - A golden age, marked by stories of great heroes and adventures. During this period, Stern Alia is replaced in the pantheon by her sons, Heironious and Hextor - Heironious taking her portfolio of honour and valour, while Hextor takes tyranny and the stern aspects of justice. Both share her role as war-gods. The snake-men spread over the Land Southward, the Guardian Mountains slowing (but not preventing) their conquest of the lands northwards. Human civilizations spread wildly during this period, including the great imperial city of Merrow. Across the sea, the Caliphate of the Serpent is formed, although it will experience decades of interregnum following wars and revolts. c2000 - the Harrowing. Kal-ithir returns from his exile in force, launching an assault on the Material Plane in an effort to provide a threat serious enough to bring on another War of the Gods. His desperate ploy works perfectly - the Gods turn on each other, each convinced another is behind Kal-ithir's success. Storms of terror and destruction stalk the land. Demons run unchecked through the night, ravaging the world. Kal-ithir's cultists begin a powerful ritual that would grant him dominion over the earth, and the disruption of belief would cripple the other deities. Moments before the ritual could be completed, a group of mortal adventurers managed to gain access to the inner sanctum of Kal-ithir's temple and slay the grand high priest. The uncontrolled forces released by the incomplete ritual cast Kal-ithir away, into the deep pockets of the universe. The Gods, witnessing the fate of Kal-ithir, realised their new war was of his making, and made peace. The darkness of Kal-ithir could not be completely purged, however, and the forces unleashed by the ritual caused a massive tectonic shift. Everything south of the Guardian mountains, an area of nearly eleven million square miles, sank into the sea. The resultant climatic shifts caused centuries of storms and freak weather events, and turned the great southern grasslands into what is now the Desert of Merrow. The yuan-ti in particular are almost entire exterminated, retreating into the jungles of the western continent where their numbers had never been large to begin with. c2150 - the towns of Raven and Tomsim grow to mighty trading powers with the development of blue-water galleons, schooner rigs and reliable celestial navigation. The Caliphate of the Serpent is officially isolationist but opens multiple "special ports" along its eastern seaboard for trading purposes. The western coast is utterly off-limits. c2200 - Merrovian Empire forms, reaching as far north as what became the borders of the country of Raven. The western plains are not as attractive to the Merrovian government, and attempting to subdue Raven ties up the Imperial Legions for several decades. The Imperial Merrovian Navy is destroyed by the Navy of the Free City of Raven in a series of one-sided battles, culminating in the Battle of the Inner Banks, when the NFCR attacked the IMN's principal shipyard. Using a combination of weather-controlling magics and magic-supported land forces attacking in a pincer movement, over sixty Imperial warships were taken or burned, in exchange for limited NFCR casualties. The sovereignty of the Free City was confirmed by treaty shortly thereafter, and it was brought into the Empire as a non-tributary allied state by the Treaty of Northwind. 2247 - Verterous crowned Emperor, begins ambitious road-building scheme, at least partly to enable land forces to be effective. Recognising the trade advantages, Raven throws in heavily to the project. c2400 - A series of weak emperors and steep taxes cause Ravenite nobles to reject the Treaty of Northwind. A single unsupported infantry Legion is sent north to reclaim Raven - it is ambushed and destroyed by the Army of the Free City of Raven six weeks march from the city. This crushing defeat marks the start of the fall of the Merrovian Empire. 2414 - the city-state of Adele secedes from the Empire. AFCR and Tomsim militia regiments form a joint force to defend the coastal city, and are successful in repelling repeated attempts to conquer the city. 2418 - Emperor Girtin assassinated 2419 - Emperor Frelwor assassinated 2419 - Emperor Dustain assassinated 2420 - Emperor Archedus assassinated 2420 - Imperial Council unable to find a candidate for the Imperial Throne. Poisonings and intrigue decimate the noble houses. Faced with imminent collapse, the commanders of the Legions stage a coup and claim power. 2424 - The Great Revolt. Infuriated by the harsh policies of the military government, citizens of the Empire rise up in revolt. Supplied with weapons and advisors from Raven and Tomsim, several small states are able to carve out a sort of independence. Although the Legions were able to crush some of these, enough survived to accelerate the collapse of the Merrovian Empire. 2497 - Emperor-General Tullius slain on the field of battle shortly before his forces defeated the stronghold of the desert barbarians known as "hidiir". With the Emperor-General's death, the Empire fragmented as his subordinates fought to claim control. Bitter infighting and civil war tore apart what was left of the Empire. 2545 - Free City of Raven is "conquered" by Cedras the Great, a merchant and landowner of vast wealth. He is crowned King to general approval, and establishes the borders of the new country of Raven, which stretches from the Landspine to the coast, and shares borders with Imladris, the Empire and the Clanlands. He rules for twenty-two years, and is regarded by history as a wise and forceful monarch. His son, Cedras II, does much to cement his father's legacy and the continuation of monarchy in Raven. 2604-2609 - The Landspine War. After decades of jockeying and brinksmanship, Raven and Tomsim switched to active warfare. Given the long voyage time from one coast to the other, which required crossing either the treacherous southern coast or the bitterly cold and even more treacherous northern one, naval power was mostly insignificant to this conflict. This was a war primarily of infantry battling for control of the high mountain passes. Attempts to march infantry around the southern end of the Landspine was met with ferocious opposition by the inhabitants of the Feldemarsh, and the barbarian lords of the Clanlands were equally opposed to infantry columns crossing their territory. Eventually, the Raven Army were able to force through the Tomsim fortifications covering the Silveroak Gap and bring several divisions out into the foothills and plains on the western slopes. Faced with an open-field battle, the Tomsim government sued for peace and agreed to pay significant reparations, as well as reducing import fees on their Ravenite goods. While the import fee reduction seemed the more minor of these two, it had a much greater long-term consequence, suppressing the Tomsim manufacturing sector in favour of the Ravenite one. 2895 - After nearly 350 years, the Ravenite monarchy is overthrown by the Glorious Revolution. King Cedras IX was revealed as a demon-worshipper and fled the city to the Redoubt of the Raven King, where the combined forces of the churches and the Raven Army winkled him out and executed him. The Council of Nobles claimed the right of rulership in the king's death - he had no direct heir to succeed him - and the tradition of monarchy faded quickly. The country of Raven rapidly collapses as the nobility focus their attention on the city rather than the peasant-filled countryside. 2923 - The baronies and earldoms of Raven split into city-states, much as they had been before Cedras the Great. Raven reclaims its pre-monarchy name as "the Free City of Raven". 2970 - The Mage War. Magic-users, long suppressed or persecuted, gathered to the banner of a mage named Sybilin, a powerful and gifted wizard. Marching from his fortress-tower in the south, the mages first conquest was the undefended Adele. Magical weapons, which escaped the control of their masters, slaughtered the entire city. Horrified by the fate of Adele, the Imperial Legions, the Army of the Free City of Raven and the Tomsim Militia joined together in the First Grand Alliance, which broke the back of the mage army in northern Merrow, on the borders of the Feldemarsh. Suppression and control of magic users became the responsibility of the Mages' Guild, membership of which is mandatory for all arcane magic users. 2999 - In the last year of the millenium, the Avatar of the Horde led his devastating attack on the Free City of Raven. While this attack was eventually pushed back and defeated, the consquences were terrible. Large areas of farmland had been ravaged, and combined with the death toll the result was widespread famine. Worse, Raven had been breadbasket to the world, and the famine's effects were felt far and wide. Unknown to the general public, Kal-ithir attempted a second comeback, launched by his lieutenant, the pit fiend Exakrith. Foiled at the last minute, the terrible consquences that followed the Harrowing a thousand years earlier were redirected to the Infinite Layers of the Abyss by the power of the Planar Temple, where Exakrith attempted the summoning ritual. Specifically, the 66th Layer, the Demonweb Pits, and the 113th Layer, Thanatos suffered tremendous damage. 3099 - A century after Exakrith's defeat, cultists of Kal-ithir attempt to perform the ritual that will restore their dark god. Unlike previous efforts, however, this attempt is doomed to failure due to the incompentence of the cultists, who use incorrect materials as focus elements. Instead of awakening Kal-ithir, the cultists bring to life the fragments of the Staff of Light, which had lain dormant in their corruption for centuries. c3100 - The Quest for the Staff of Light begins. Category:History